After rain comes sunshine
by FoolishLittleDuck
Summary: 'When the bouncy Italian had come up to him and said "let's play at your place, Japan!" but with a rather forced excitement, it made Japan think there was more to it than just wanting to have fun…' WARNING: Self-conscious and sorta depressed Italy inside.


_**Disclaimer:**_ I do not own Hetalia. Owning Hetalia means owning the world. I don't own the world... YET. Soon, my friends, soon... ON WITH THE STORY!

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_~*After rain comes sunshine*~_

The sky was covered with gray clouds, as it had been the past two days, leaving no space for the sunrays to shine through. Japan looked at it for a long time before lowering his gaze to his friend sitting next to him.

Italy had been weird lately… Or rather, weirder than usual, Japan corrected himself. The brunette had been smiling as he always did, but his smiles had felt… empty, somehow. And his always cheerful self, usually so full of life and energy, was calm and… Japan could not properly explain it, but something was very off with Italy.

Gently, Japan reached out and placed a hand on Italy's shoulder, making him snap back to reality (for he had been far lost in his own little world up to that point). "Italy-san… You wished to talk to me about something?" he asked carefully. When the bouncy Italian had come up to him and said "let's play at your place, Japan!" but with a rather forced excitement, it made Japan think there was more to it than just wanting to have fun…

"Ah, mm. You're so smart, Japan," the other man said and smiled. "You know what people think all the time, and you know how to deal with the situations."

"That's not true at all, Italy-san," Japan tried to argue, but Italy just smiled and went on.

"You care about everyone, too, and you're so polite and… completely different from me, right?" Japan just stared at his friend for a long moment, waiting for him to continue. This was a new side of him that Japan thought was non-existent. Italy was actually being self-conscious?

"Italy-san, that's—"

"I know as well as you and everyone else that it's true, Japan… I'm good for nothing, aren't I?" It was almost scary to hear the happy-go-lucky brunette say these kinds of things with a faked smile on his lips. Japan stayed quiet and let Italy continue speaking. "I mean, the only things I'm good at are making pasta and pizza, draw and run away… None of these have ever proved helpful in wars, you know. Ah, of course you do, we've been allies before~" The Italian laughed as he said it and paused to look up at the gray sky.

An uncomfortable silence rested between the two nations. Japan had questions he wanted to ask, and Italy didn't seem like he was done talking. Then Italy finally looked down on the ground and went on, his fake smile turning genuinely sad.

"I'm always a bother to everyone… especially _him_. I don't want him to hate me, Japan. I'm scared… I'm really, really scared. He's promised to not abandon me, but I'm just annoying him all the time. I fail at everything, even tying my own shoelaces, and I call him out to help me in stupid situations…" He looked up to face Japan again. "But you know what? The truth is I actually only do it _because_ I'm scared he'll abandon me. I cling to him as much as I can while I still can."

"Italy-san…" Japan looked for him a long while, and then smiled. He reached out and gently grabbed Italy's face with both hands and looked him straight in the eyes. "You're not worthless. You've saved us both multiple times by just being your cheerful self. And I am positive Germany-san would never abandon you. Because he, just like me, loves you very much, Italy-san."

The assuring words, the calm and gentle face, it was more than Italy could handle at that moment. His eyes widened and then he burst into tears, not bothering to hold back as he lashed forward to embrace the Japanese man. He cried and sobbed, while Japan stroked his hand soothingly up and down his back.

"Thank you, Japan…" Italy finally said after calming down. "Really, thank you."

Said man smiled. "You look tired, Italy-san. Do you want to use the guestroom and get some rest?" he asked. Italy nodded and mumbled another 'thank you'.

After the Italian had fallen asleep, snoring softly, Japan took out his phone and dialled Germany's number.

"Ah, hello, Germany-san? Yes. Yes, it was as I suspected… No, he's sleeping now… Yes. You're coming here? Ah, I understand. I'll see you soon then." And then he hung up. Japan sighed as he returned to the veranda and looked out on the ominous sky. It would start raining any moment now, he was sure.

Thinking over the previous conversation with Italy, he couldn't help but chuckle under his breath. Really, that boy… He didn't see just how important he was for everyone. He was a ray of sunshine in dark times, he never lost hope and he never stopped believing in his friends, causing a mutual trust to build up.

Japan smiled as the first raindrops fell outside; they would clean away all doubts and hopelessness, for sure. Because no matter how long it keeps raining, the sun will always shine in the end.

_~*Fin*~_

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_**A/N:**_ Um, yes, hello! **Neko** here, AKA **FoolishLittleDuck**.. This is a little piece I wrote because... I'm not too sure myself. But I feel that many people, more or less EVERYONE out there, have misunderstood Italy's character. He's not some idiot that can't think for himself and act as a little girl that doesn't know what the bloody hell 'porn' is (Yeah, I read a fanfic where he asked what that was...) But... Italy's character is actually pretty deep, if you take your time to look. He smiles most of the time, true. He's stupid, true. But he's not a complete idiot when it comes to people around him. I can relate to Italy quite well, being the happy-go-lucky idiot I am... But I personally live with the fear that people will eventually grow tired of me and walk away. And I imagine Italy thinks so as well, every once in a while. It's not constantly, but once you feel down in the dump, those thoughts creep out and torture you... Yeah. Also, about Italy acting all innocent and stuff; He's not. He's far from innocent, actually. Yeah. He's actually rather damn perverted, haha! XD

Well, I guess that's all I wanted to say. Thank you for taking your time and reading this. It means a lot to me :) Please feel free to review and stuff!_  
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